Durham County Council have pledged to find alternative places in good schools for the children who will be left without a classroom following the announced closure of Durham Free School.

Caroline O’Neill, head of education at Durham County Council, said some children will start at new schools as early as Monday, after the news came this week that the school was to be closed down after a damning Ofsted report.

Ms O’Neill said: “Given the announcement by the Secretary of State earlier this week regarding the school’s funding and the Ofsted report which stated that all aspects of the school are inadequate a number of parents are understandably concerned and anxious to get their children into alternative schools where they will receive an education which is good or better.

“We are responding to families by supporting them to find alternative schools for their children to transfer to if they request that. Some parents do not necessarily want to wait another three weeks before beginning the process of transferring their children.

“Some pupils whose parents have been particularly proactive will start in their new schools on Monday of next week.

“Parents are able to accept an alternative place at another school in principle and then withdraw their application if the Free School stays open.”

Durham Free School in Gilesgate

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The closure comes after a scathing Ofsted report which branded the school “inadequate against every criteria”.

In a week which saw two North East schools come under fire from Ofsted, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said she would close Durham Free School after the report found the pupils to be frequently using: “racist words and sexually derogative and homophobic terms.”

The report said: “Leaders were failing to properly tackle or challenge this type of language and behaviour.”

But staff and parents at Durham Free School have expressed outrage at the “aggressive and bullying” pressure on families to commit quickly to moving their children to other schools.

The school, which remains open as normal while some parents campaign to stop the closure, said the Secretary of State’s intention to withdraw funding for the school was flawed.

Acting headteacher Julian Eisner said: “There is a lot of disquiet over the speed at which the LEA is moving on this, and the deadline they have given to parents seems to pre-empt the Secretary of State’s final decision.

“These letters were followed up on Thursday with telephone calls, which some parents have described as “aggressive”, asking them to state on the phone which school they would like to transfer their child to and offering a very rapid turnaround.

“Some of our parents have stood their ground, but others have felt pressured into accepting places.”

With more than 90 families now facing the prospect of finding a new school for their children, cabinet member for children and young people’s services, Councillor Ossie Johnson, said the council would do everything they could to secure new places quickly.